Ice skating tourism
In ancient times economic life came to a hold when winter became severe.
Ice skating then was just a popular pastime. But in the low-lying and
water rich Netherlands it
also made it possible to make rather long journeys at a low budget. The frozen canals
became highways and good
skaters rather quickly rode 50 miles or so to visit their relatives in
towns they had to walk to for many more hours in summer time. Not much has changed in the course of time. Also nowadays
when temperature is low enough to freeze the waterways thousands take
their ice skates and make a tour. Maybe the Netherlands is the only
country in the world where skating tours is that popular that it is
hardly imaginable that one has not at least once participated. Through
the ages people from abroad have been astonished to see how the Dutch
are warmed by the cold of the winter. They seem to become metamorphosed. Even
confirmed slowcoaches become active and full of energy.

Since
skating tourism for many in winter was the only source of income the communities
tried to promote it by publishing maps and guides to attract skaters.
They also maintained a system of ice way management. Contracts were concluded with local skating clubs
and individuals for keeping certain tracks free of snow,
for equalizing the ice surface and for marking holes and cracks.

Not only the pubs along the canals tried to earn something. They had to
compete with commoners that tried to sell hot drinks and something to
eat. Others tried to sell local specialities as tokens of remembrance.
And lots of men swept the ice expecting a small tip when passed by.

Natural
ice
What distinguishes touring skating from all other kinds
of track skating is that it is done on natural ice. It requires more
power then skating on artificial ice and the circumstances can be heavy.
Nevertheless the real skater is fond of it and looks forward to it again
as soon as the spring arrives.

Organized tours
At present the economic factor has decreased. But ice skating is still a
popular pastime attracting lots of people that are prepared to take a
day-off. Organized tours are offered throughout the Netherlands by local
ice clubs (and nearly any town has one!). They compete to be the first
to offer tours in the open on natural ice. These tours comprise various
distances of which 25 kilometres/20 miles is considered to be a short
one. The ultimate tours are 200 kilometres/165 miles long. We then speak
of marathons. Often the tours are divided in two classes: the
competitive skaters start first and the pleasure skaters next. For both
categories the reward is some medal or pennon.Skating along the eleven Friesland cities
The highlight of these activities is found in the famous so-called Elfstedentocht, a tour of 195 kilometres along the eleven medieval Friesland
cities. It is known that already in the 18th century this tour offered a
challenge
to the Dutch. But not only the Dutch were attracted. The at his
time well-known English skater C.G. Tebbutt wrote in his book Skating (1897) that he and two companions completed the tour in 14 hours. At that time the individual achievement as such was sufficient to tickle ones vanity as there were no journalists waiting for the
first to arrive. This changed in 1909 when the tour was given an official contest
character. Nowadays this tour is the biggest well-organised skating event
in the Netherlands attracting ten thousands of people. It is accompanied by tv-crews
from various countries following the skaters with their cameras even on the ice sitting at the
rear of a motorbike.
The reward for fulfilling the tour is the Eleven Towns Cross,
an unsightly medal of ca. 22 x 22 mm, that is cherished by its owners as
if it were a costly diamond.

Alternative eleven cities tour
Due to the unpredictability of the weather,
the relatively short periods of freezing weather and the importance to keep the canal surfaces open for shipping,
the Elfstedentocht has been held only fifteen times in the past 100 years. The first in 1909 and the latest in 1997, which is too less for too many. As a result of the generally increased
prosperity more and more people are prepared to travel and put their
skates on elsewhere. Thus in the 20th century at the beginning of the
seventies the idea was born to organise alternative Eleven Towns Tours yearly. The
first was held in 1974 in Norway but in the meantime Austria, Canada, Finland and Germany have been guest countries as well.

Marathon skating
In the Netherlands another special (and very
popular) kind of speed skating emerged from touring: marathon
skating. This means circling a 400-meter track between 40 and 150 times with a maximum
of 100 skaters (at the same time). Marathon skating is dominated by teams
but individual ranking system exists as well. Points can be earned at sprints after certain distances, by giving full laps to other riders, and by finishing within the first ten. Further rankings exist for the strongest team, for fighting spirit and the best sprinters. As a result of all of these elements a marathon race can become an exiting event.

Ancient skates
for touring
All types of (wooden) ice skates have been used for touring skating, at
least in ancient times. All ice skates of the Holland and Friesland models
originally have been used as touring skates. The owners only occasionally used
them for speed
skating contests. Making them was a job for the local blacksmith in co-operation
with the carpenter and the harness maker. Some blacksmiths made better ice
skates than others and thus lots of models have been developed. Often they were
named after the villages where the blacksmiths lived. In Holland famous
blacksmiths lived in Bergambacht, Ouderkerk and Waddinxveen; in Friesland
in Akkrum, Warga and IJlst. As the models of successful blacksmiths were
imitated quite often families of ice skates originated in these
neighbourhoods. Those ‘families’ nowadays are known as Holland skates,
Friesland skates, West-Friesland skates, Groningen skates, et cetera. This
makes collecting Dutch skates from the period until circa 1925,
when the individual craftwork disappeared as the advent of
industrialisation won out over traditional craftsmanship, very
interesting.

Modern skates for touring
In the second half of the 20th century a few special models for touring
were developed such as Combi Skates, Norwegian Touring Skates and Swedish Hobble Skates.

Dutch handbook
for
skating tours

tickets for participants
in skating tours

in Gouda skaters bought
stone pipes
that ought to be
brought
home
in tact
as to prove the
capabililty of skaters